The Lions' Week 2 loss will follow them into Week 3. After several key players suffered injuries in last Sunday's loss to the Seahawks, the Lions will likely be without six starters this Sunday against the Falcons.
On Friday, the team ruled out safety Kerby Joseph, who suffered a hip injury last week, and guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who suffered a knee injury. Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who suffered a torn pec, has already landed on injured reserve and might be out for the season.
The Lions have also ruled out left tackle Taylor Decker, who suffered an ankle injury in Week 1, and cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, whose recovery from a torn ACL was slowed last week by a hamstring injury in practice.
Running back David Montgomery, who suffered a thigh injury last week, is listed as doubtful. All told, three key players on offense and three key players on defense.
In the secondary, Tracy Walker and likely Ifeatu Melifonwu will step in for Gardner-Johnson and Joseph, as they did last week when Detroit's starting safeties briefly left the game. Jerry Jacobs, who's been holding down the No. 2 corner job in Moseley's absence, will try to bounce back from a poor game against the Seahawks.
On offense, Jahmyr Gibbs is in line for more work with Montgomery banged-up, especially on the ground. Up front, Penei Sewell figures to flip across the line again in place of Decker, with Matt Nelson filling the void at right tackle. And veteran guard Graham Glasgow will slide in for Vaitai.
Amon-Ra St. Brown (toe) and Josh Reynolds (groin), are questionable for Sunday, but Detroit's top two receivers were full practice participants on Friday. St. Brown expects to play and said he'll be fine moving forward.